Don't frack Pennsylvania!
Lobbyists for the powerful fracking industry and their political allies in the state capitol are pushing policies that would expose our health, environment, and communities to the dangers of shale gas drilling. But they've got a fight on their hands — thousands of Pennsylvanians are joining our call to help stop gas drilling from threatening our environment and our public health.
Fracking is leaving a trail of pollution across Pennsylvania
The faster the fracking industry grows, the bigger the swath of destruction it leaves across Pennsylvania.
Already, fracking has contaminated drinking water supplies with benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and other dangerous contaminants; dumped under-treated wastewater in rivers and streams from the Monongahela to Neshaminy Creek; clear-cut our state forestland to make way for gas wells; and are crisscrossing the state with dangerous gas pipelines.
At risk: The health of our environment and communities
Countless Pennsylvanians living close to fracking wells have seen their lives turn upside down. Families living in the shadow of fracking face explosions mere feet from their doorsteps, polluted tap water that is unsafe to drink, toxic fumes in the air they breathe, and more:
- Pat Farnelli and her kids suffered excruciating stomach pain whenever they drank tap water. Despite industry denials, the DEP concluded that nearby drilling had contaminated 19 water wells in Pat’s town.
- Health experts are finding increased air pollution near drilling sites, and residents living near gas operations have consistently experienced dizziness and nosebleeds.
- Dimock resident Norma Fiorentino’s personal water well exploded in her front yard. State investigators found that Cabot’s nearby drilling had caused the well to fill up with combustible methane gas.
- June Chapel feared for her safety and was forced to stay indoors when the toxic wastewater pit in her backyard caught on fire.
- The Johnson family was forced to quarantine 28 head of cattle on their farm after they came in contact with toxic frack drilling fluid.
- Watch our Marcellus Shale Stories video series to learn more about how fracking impacts the lives of Pennsylvanians.
These stories only scratch the surface. It all adds up to one simple, powerful message: fracking is dangerous to our environment and to Pennsylvanians like you and me. And fracking companies are either unwilling or unable to drill safely.
Gas companies have friends in high places
What are our leaders in Harrisburg and Washington DC doing while the frackers run amok? At best, they’re turning a blind eye. At worst, they’re working with lobbyists for the fracking industry to loosen up the rules even more.
The fracking industry and their lobbyists have spent $59 million lobbying Pennsylvania officials and are pushing to undo policies meant to protect public health and our environment. We need your help to stop this from happening.
With our activism and advocacy, we must stop the dangers of fracking
With your help, we’re working to make Pennsylvania frack-free and ban dangerous fracking.
And we’re in this fight for the long haul. With your help, we’re building the vocal public outcry that’s needed to stop fracking — a voice that will be too loud for the lobbyists to drown out, and too loud for our legislators to ignore. And our strategy starts at the grassroots:
- We’re educating hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians each year about the threats of fracking .
- We hold citizen trainings across Pennsylvania to teach concerned residents the skills they need to get in the fight to stop fracking.
- Our staff release research exposing the damage the fracking industry has already caused.
- We’re engaging tens of thousands of concerned Pennsylvanians to hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire so they know that the public won’t rest until Pennsylvania is frack-free.
Key Facts
- 65 drilling companies have committed more than 6,210 violations of Pennsylvania’s environmental laws.
- Roughly 700,000 acres of state forestland has been leased to private companies for gas drilling — our state parks could be next on the chopping block.
- From the diesel exhaust produced by trucks and equipment, to gases vented from wells, condensers or waste ponds, air pollution from Marcellus Shale gas production poses risks to the health of nearby residents, and could cause greater air quality concerns statewide.
- PennEnvironment and our activists need your help to inform 100,000 Pennsylvanians about this issue, train and empower 1,000 people to take action in their communities, and help send a strong message to legislators that you want our environment and public health protected from dangerous drilling.
- In 2005, there were only a handful of gas drilling wells in Pennsylvania. Today, there are more than 10,553. And the industry predicts that thousands more will be drilled in the coming years.
Related Campaign:
Ban Oil Trains
The increasingly common practice of transporting explosive oil by train to points across the nation—including Pennsylvania— poses a disastrous risk to the health, well-being, and safety of our communities.
Click here to learn more.
